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Sunday, July 13, 2008

I realized I hadn't done a Sunday sound out in a couple weeks. So, after going through 3 weeks' worth of questions, here goes...

I have been wondering for a long time, is the little girl from the St. Jude children's research thing Brooklyn?Yep, that's Brooklyn on her first birthday.

Wow Austin is one smart cookie. Is he planning to be an engineer or an artist or architect or something similar when he's older? With that attention to detail at age 4-5 he will go a long way!I just asked him, "What are you planning on being when you grow up?" He answered, "A person."If only he could use his genius for good not evil...

I would like to post a link to your blog on my own, under a blogs that I am reading section, on blogger. Copying this link never works though. Is there a secret I don't know about?I have no idea, but several people have told me this. Maybe try using mom2my6pack.com instead of mom2my6pack.blogspot.com?

And what the heck is Sonic? did I miss a post? I'm from Canada, so I've never heard of it.It's a fast food restaurant where you can pull your car up, order, and pay for your meal and then waiters on skates bring your food out to you. They have an AWESOME blackberry Sprite too!

I had an SSO question for you but by the time the comment window popped up, I'd forgotten it already. Do you suffer from Mommy Brain like I do?I'm sorry. What was the question?

Ice cream of the month, huh? How is it? Both my husband's and dad's birthdays are in the next month plus, and I have no clue what to get either!It's ridiculously expensive, but if you've got someone who doesn't want or need anything and you can't think of any ideas, it's kinda neat.

......so did you play miniture golf?No, we still haven't gone! Something has come up or the weather has been bad every day. I still owe them 18 holes! This week....

I noticed underneath Brooklyn's crying, that you were listening to the soundtrack from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (could they have come up with a longer name?!) It's a favorite of our family's but it got me to wondering: What audio selections do you offer in the car and, most importantly, who gets to pick?My car - I pick. And if the kids complain, I put on opera. They love that.

I'm totally digging the fact that Brooklyn stopped crying as soon as "Go, Go, Go Joseph" came on. I wonder, does she always do that, or was this time just a fluke? :)It was a fluke, but she used to stop crying EVERY TIME she heard THIS SONG when she was a baby.

Hi Dawn, What kind of Van did you buy.A Pace bus Chevy Express

I wondered if you had ever considered with the success of your blog/book if someone will offer you a reality series and if you would be willing to do that?Thanks!I've never really thought about it, but I don't think I'd be interested in having America invade my home on a weekly basis like that.

Wow! I thought I was the only one that had to deal with tantrums like that!! I thought my 2 1/2 year old son was just going to be a bad child! You have given me hope that maybe it IS just a phase...do you have any suggestions??Duct tape over his mouth and/or ear plugs for you.

Does Brooklyn normally freak out... scream so nicely, every time you put her in the car seat?Oh no.It's not exclusive to car seats.

If you could go anywhere in the world on your next vacation where would you go?P.S. if you had all the money in the world.There are too many places I'd love to see, so I guess if money wasn't an option, I'd take a trip around the world.

So does that mean you do about 9 to 10 loads of laundry a week?Double that.

I was wondering - do you yell a lot?WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I YELL A LOT? I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE CLOSED MY WINDOWS YESTERDAY!

And how did the marshmallows taste? I watch Alton Brown, and I've seen his marshmallow tutorial, and I cook a LOT and I'm still not willing to try out his theory that marshmallows don't have to come from a bag!They were actually pretty good. But I've never found anything wrong with the kind that come in a bag either.

Question: Are you like me and feel GUILTY when you ask people to watch your kids? I HATE IT! I would rather drag them to the store, tantrums and all, than inconvenience someone else with MY children. I know that is silly but it's the way my brain works!YES! Joe and I went out for our anniversary yesterday. I hate asking anyone to watch the kids. That's why we end up going out once every 2 years. It's pathetic. We had dinner and then called home to ask permission to extend our curfew so we could go see a movie.

Glad no one was hurt. I have to ask, it looks like hubby's burb is a 3/4 ton. I have one just like it but it is a rare diesel model. Is joe's burb a diesel too?Ummm, it's white.

Do you wear your hair up or down?I used to be the queen of the ponytail (very classy, I know), but I recently got my hair cut short. :(

Oh my good gravy, thank goodness no-one was hurt! How about his truck? Was it dented/scratched? Hopefully it's ok?The truck was just dented a little when the branch fell on it, but more importantly, what does "good gravy" mean and where did you come up with that saying? LOL! You sound like my friend Janie!

just a stupid question, maybe SSO material. where do you rent your movies from?the library or Blockbuster and now I remember why. Joe and I went out to the movies last night and saw Indiana Jones. It cost us $20! TWENTY DOLLARS!!! Just for the two of us!

Ummm Dawn, should I ask why you continue to go camping when someone is very politely and subtlely telling you not to?I'm gathering material for my third book.

So my question is, where are all six kids if you were driving a truck?!? Tell me they weren't in the camper. Is that legal?!? Perhaps you have an RV?A truck - Suburban that seats 9. Although letting the kids bounce around in the camper sounds like a wonderful idea for next time!

Peoria, Peoria... Seems like there was some tv show or movie that took place in Peoria? Do you know what that was?Children of the Corn?

Clearly it's been a while since I've been camping, but how, while camping, do you have internet access to tell us these wonderful stories??I don't know. A lot of campgrounds now offer WiFi. We just stayed at a Jellystone that had internet access.

QuestionWhat consequences and rewards do you use to guide your children's behavior? Timeouts, chores, restitution? I am being totally serious.It depends on the child and the offense. There is no "one discipline fits all" answer in my house.

I'm curious Dawn. What are schmoes? I'm wondering if that's what we call s'mores here in the east. Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows??LOL! Yep! "Hot delicious schmoes" is a line from Toy Story 2.

Hi again Dawn, I am just curious if the masquito's < ( bad speller here) are really biting you all this year? They are terrible here in Michigan. I was told the bats are dying of some disese and therfore not eating them.The mosquitoes stink. We just try to stay inside at dusk here. I hadn't heard anything about dwindling bat populations though. I figured it was just from all the flooding. I think Deb (boufmom) has some extra bats if anyone needs some!

Wow, so am I correct in assuming that you also live 3 hours away from the Brookfield Zoo? And you went twice in like a week? That's crazy! haha!Ahhh no. I'm a few minutes away from the zoo.

From what I recall of central Illinois, you can just about see the ones shot off in Peoria from any point between Chicago and St. Louis. Am I right?HAAA! Yep, I think you're right. Illinois is extraordinarily flat.

great post....But this is jus out of curiosity.I think i have met you YAHOO messenger.Do you write poems???Ummm nope. I'm not on Yahoo and I definitely don't write poems.

Welcome home Dawn, Did you have any troubles with the truck on the drive home? Also was wondering what kind of tent or camper you use for your large family?We have a kinda big camper. No tents for me anymore. No way. I'll take a camper with a bathroom, a microwave, and air conditioning thankyouverymuch.

Honestly, I bet you do love camping. It's just all the "other garbage" that you could do without....Or not.

How hot is it in Chicago in August? I'm coming for a visit on the 14th and don't know how to dress. It's 100 degrees until October here in Mississippi.It could be 100 or it could be 60. It's hard telling. Generally though, it's pretty hot (80s) and humid in August.

I have a question....how do we e-mail you? I've wanted to for awhile but I can't seem to find your e-mail address on your site. I swear I won't stalk you! Well, not anymore than I already do.....mom2my6pack at aol dot com.

Dawn - A few questions for ya....reading your grocery store adventures is always a pleasure, but I have to wonder, at what age are you willing to leave one or two of the kids at home for the grocery run? My oldest is 11, and I'll leave him if I know he is A) occupied with something and B) my trip is under an hour.I could leave the older ones at home for a short time while I went to the store, but I don't necessarily trust them to watch the little ones while I'm gone. Sooo, I'm mean and I make them all come with me so the older ones can help me out with the little ones.

Also, you mentioned Clayton's middle name and now it piqued my curiosity......what are all your kids middle names?I have a hard enough time remembering their first names! Now you want to know their middle names too?JamesLeeRaineAnneReidRose

So do you always sit it out when you don't like your kids' friends?It's only happened twice that I can think of, but other than hinting at some things, I left it up to my kids to decide. I figured if I forbid my kids from seeing them or said bad things about them, it would make my kids mad and make them want to hang out with them even more.

You know you really are starting to seem unreal to me. What a great way to handle this situation! You seem to be able to handle any situation, with grace and dignitySNORT! That's just because I left off the part about my shaking in my Crocs and feeling like hurling all over the place.

OH - MY - GOSH! Brooklyn is so adorable in that picture. Have you ever considered trying to get her into commercials or modeling for catalogs?Thank you and nope. I wouldn't begin to know how to go about that and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have time for it anyway.

You've got to help me (b/c you have so much extra time on your hands) - but I'm desperate and pls forgive my ignorance- for some reason I stopped receiving your updates in my email for a long time (I know, gasp!). Then recently, I went to your site and clicked to subscribe, but now I get the updates fully in email with no links so I cant see comments,etc. Tonite- I tried again, but can't figure out how to sign up for the email alerts that give me a link to your blog. (long winded cry for help) - where do I sign up for this?I think you can click one of the links to the right of my blog (Feedburner, etc.)

Good for you! I think you handled that excellently! Thanks for sharing the experience with us so we could learn from it too. Ever thought about a parenting video!??!?! I'm sure the book will be full of "lessons learned" but a VIDEO...now THERE'S an idea!! =)I have actually. We'll see...

BTW.. Dawn what is your secret (and Savannah's) for saving so well? I'm very impressed at how she was able to save so much $ at her age. I don't have a secret. I have no idea. It's just how Savannah is. Jackson, on the other hand, can't keep money for a day without wanting to spend it. They're all different.

Way to handle a tough situation diplomatically and turn it in to a learning lesson. This does remind me of the Brady bunch. The end of every show was wrapped up with some pertinent life lesson, e.g Greg and his "Exact words".LOL! Where did the Bradys go? Where are all the family shows we grew up watching? Full House? The Cosby Show? Little House on the Prairie? Different Strokes? Family Ties? The Facts of Life? Growing Pains? There's nothing good on tv anymore. Stupid reality shows (I get enough reality in my life) and stuff that isn't appropriate for kids. What happened to all the family shows??? Even the commercials are bad. Who wants to see 100 commercials for E.D. during a baseball game broadcast during the day??? Ugh.

So glad you found some time to write a SSO. I enjoy it a lot.In response to the lack of family shows....I am with you all the way. My kids were watching something like Price is Right during the day when a commercial for Swingtown came on. I thought they could only play those commercials after 4pm? We watch a lot of Boomerang w/ the old school cartoons in our house. My oldest is almost 9 and starting to ask ?'s about the lovely ED commercials....not sure how to deal with this yet. I just want my kids to remain innocent as long as they can. When did you decide to give more info on the "stuff" we hate to discuss as parents?

speaking of all those shows we do watch most of them on Nick at Nite down here in SE TX... Sierra my 8 year old has discovered Family matters and just loves it as they have just started playing the reruns and i was telling her how i used to watch that as a kid but yes i do watch Full house, little house on the prairie, growing pains, step by step, the cosby show, roseanne still to this day they are my favorite even though i have seen each episode a million times i still love to watch them... sasha

Full House, ABC FamilyLittle House on The Prairie, Hallmark and I think TVLandThe Cosby Show, WGN The rest of them I'm not sure...other wise if you need a quick fix youtube, or google it and you'll find it:)

There aren't any family shows on because the networks learned it is cheaper to produce reality (and news) shows. You get 10 - 15 wannabe "stars" trying for their 15minutes of fame and still pay less than the cost of producing a quality family television program. It's all about the money - and greed.

I loved all the shows you mentioned in the last q/a!!! Some they've brought back on Nick at Night but I miss the ones they still aren't showing. Different Strokes!! Facts of Life!! I think they need to show those from the first show to the last! I wonder why they don't do that....play older shows in order. They usually jump around from season to season so it's hard for those just seeing it for the first time to follow along. Crazy network people....they need to let me run the programming...because a mom from IL knows SOOO much about that kind of thing! HA!!

One thing I learned about marshmallows with the Feingold program - they have blue dye in them, It makes the marshmallow appear more white. There are no good substitutes. The kosher ones are not as tasty and the bakery ones are ridiculously expensive. I have not gotten brave to make my own, but I may have to.

No kidding on the TV shows! TiVo is a wonderful thing you can record any show you want and also pause the commercials (I'm with you on the ED plus the KY and pregnancy test commercials?? PUHLEESE! My 9 yr old has discovered Home Improvement, Family Matters and the Cosby Show! Those are what he wants to watch now. No way would I let him sit down and watch the trash that is on now.

You are wondering where all the good family shows are well up in Canada in the province I live in we actually have a Christian station that brodcasts them all Full House, Family Ties, Hogan Family, etc. I love that there's a channel with funny shows that we can all watch. My kids love Urkel's voice they crack up everytime he talks.

I am so confused...What is this Luvs talk everyone is leaving comments about? I don't see any post about luvs diapers and when I clike on the link that you have to get a coupon I cant find it. Am I the only one?

"The truck was just dented a little when the branch fell on it, but more importantly, what does "good gravy" mean and where did you come up with that saying? LOL! You sound like my friend Janie!"

Thank goodness the truck was only dented. I can't believe that branch didn't do more damage. Amazing.

"oh my good gravy" came from...I don't know where. It just appeared from the ether. We do tend to have weird sayings in my family. For example, if a child is being particularly cute and sweet we call them "sausage". Most babies are cute little sausages. But that particular strange saying is my husband's fault. =)

Dusk? You just have to be careful after dusk? You folks don't know how good you've got it. We've got the Asian tiger mosquito here, and they bite all day long. The kids have to be dipped in a tub of DEET just to play outside.

Hey, we have all of the Brady Bunch seasons on DVD and my kids (14 and 10) absolutely LOVED them! They even re-watch them. Family shows are not like they used to be. It seems sarcasm and rudeness rule the day.

I mean, I loves me some sarcasm, but it seems to be the go-to device for every kid show out there, and it gets old.

I don't know if you read all your comments... I seem to recall you saying somewhere that it can take you awhile to get through your e-mail... I just wanted you to know I gave you an award that I am supposed to pass on for blogs that are fun to read. It is a long post and I've got another award before that one... you are the last one on the list if you don't want to read through it all. I don't see where you've posted any of those kinds of doohickeys so don't feel like you have to put it on your sidebar or anything. You just make me laugh.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have the Facts of Life....I totally agree with the t.v. shows comment. We never watch network t.v. in our house at night. I see a lot of disney channel here. I think I am growing Mickey Mouse ears. I agree with the camping thing too. My husband is so surprised I veto that idea....we live in AR. Who wants to pitch a tent in Arkansas in the middle of summer???

For those who don't know Sonic... you are SO missing out! They have their headquarters in Oklahoma City (my hometown), and they mix fountain drinks like your corner drugstore used to do. They put starlight mints in the bags of food, because the onions make you want a mint. In their old building they had a light fixture that was a huge starlight mint, just as you step off the elevator at their corporate offices.

This it a fun little gimmick. http://www.maketjdrink.com/This is their ad campaign guys, Peter and T.J. (Their real names! They really live in a city with no Sonic to go to.) making funny faces and jokes and stuff, and you can see what sorts of drink combinations you can create.

Also go check out their website.http://www.sonicdrivein.com/

Their waitstaff used to have to wear roller skates, and sometimes they still have days where everyone does. These are the pioneers of drive-in food.